Alistair Hardaker | Image: © Royal Collection Enterprises Limited 2026 | Royal Collection Trust.
Venus Garden, formerly the East Terrace Garden, opens 16 July to 13 September as part of standard Windsor Castle visit at no extra charge.
A garden beneath the east façade of Windsor Castle has been redesigned according to King Charles’s vision and will open to visitors this summer.
Formerly the East Terrace Garden, the renamed Venus Garden will be accessible as part of a standard visit to Windsor Castle between 16 July and 13 September at no extra charge.
The redesign takes its inspiration from the orbit of Venus. Traced over eight years, the planet’s orbit creates a petal-like pattern that has informed the layout of newly laid perennial beds and evergreen hedge-lined pathways.
The garden was first laid out in the 1820s on the site of Charles II’s bowling green. Queen Victoria recorded that Prince Albert took particular interest in its planting, while during the Second World War the beds became allotments for Castle residents, including the young Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret.
In the decades that followed, Prince Philip simplified the layout into formal rose beds and commissioned a central fountain. The garden was most recently open to the public for weekend openings in the summers of 2020 and 2021.
Yew hedging frames a series of sculptures from the Royal Collection along the garden’s curved perimeter. Among them are four bronze figures by Hubert Le Sueur, made for Charles I in the 1630s and brought to the garden for George IV. They are complemented by marble, bronze and stone vases, lead urns and other historic sculptures, some newly introduced as part of the redesign.
Adam Scott, gardens and nursery manager at Windsor Castle, said: “After around 18 months of careful transformation, we are delighted to open the Venus Garden to visitors this summer, marking the start of an important new chapter in the garden’s 200-year history.’
